The Taj Mahal (INDIA)

There are no words to describe the exquisite beauty of the Taj Mahal.  It is one of the modern day wonders of the world, not only because of its scale and majestic qualities, but also because of the engineering feat it took to build the Taj Mahal.  It truly is breathtaking!

What was also breathtaking today was the heat!  It was more than 110 degrees!  Everything was fine, even walking in the heat, until our return trip when the air conditioning in the car failed to work.  The drive from New Delhi is approximately two and a half hours.  I was wilted by the time we returned to the hotel.

We started our journey early to beat the traffic.  It was a fascinating drive as we went through the squalor of New Delhi, combined with massive new construction projects which are all over the ever broadening commercial area of New Delhi.  The scale of what is currently being built amazed me.  What I also noted was the condition of relatively new buildings.  They are not well maintained and have the look of being tired, even though the buildings are only a couple of years old.  Once we left the city, the highway to Agra was deserted, unlike all of the streets of New Delhi which are bursting with people, bicycles, cars, tuk-tuks, motorcycles, donkey and horse drawn wagons, and buses multiplied by thousands.  The toll road to Agra recently opened and proved to be a quick way to get there.  Before the road opened it took more than 5 hours by car.  Now it is a little over  two and one half hours.  The road was obviously built to accommodate tourists going to Agra.  What impressed me during the drive was the vast flat undeveloped plain of this part of India.  The landscape was dotted with small farms and dozens upon dozens of brick factories.  When we reached Agra, it was like going back a few hundred years.  It is definitely an extremely poor city, except for the hotels which cater to tourists.  There is abject poverty and squalor throughout Agra which makes the Taj Mahal even more mysterious and beguiling.  As I learned during our tour, Agra was at one time the capital of India when it was ruled by the Moguls.  It was one of the Mogul kings who built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his "favorite" wife.  No photos will ever do it justice, you must visit it to experience exactly how beautiful it is. 

On the side of the road in New Delhi.

On a street corner in Agra.

A shop in Agra which sells statues of Hindu gods.

The fairly common condition of buildings in Agra.

Hats for sale near a tourist area bus stop in Agra.

The East Gate which leads to the Taj Mahal.  It is one of three gates.  The other two are the West Gate and the South Gate.

The principal and second gate which leads to the Taj Mahal.

The South Gate to the Taj Mahal which was only used by the Mogul king.

The first view of the Taj Mahal as you enter the portal of the second gate.

View from the Taj Mahal looking back toward the second gate.

A mosque on the left side of the Taj Mahal.  The mosque is still actively used today as a place for Muslim prayer.

View of the river from the rear terrace of the Taj Mahal.

The mosque on the left side of the temple.  A similar building was constructed on the right side of the Taj Mahal for the sole purpose of maintaining the symmetry of the entire complex.  It never had any real use over than being decorative.

An arcade in the outer courtyard of the second gate.

The interior of the arcade.

These buildings abut the Taj Mahal complex.  Below the retaining wall is the open sewage system of Agra.

Finally, more photos of the extraordinarily exquisite Taj Mahal...

...and of course, of me being at the Taj Mahal!

It is now my bed-time.  The next posting will include the remaining photos from today of the Fort of Agra, home to the Mogul Emperors for several centuries.